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ELEMENTS OF TOURISTIC ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE FOREST AREAS: A CASE STUDY

BASED ON THE BIALOWIEZA FOREST MICRO-REGION
Panfiluk, Eugenia. Economic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings; Varazdin : 722-
730. Varazdin: Varazdin Development and Entrepreneurship Agency (VADEA). (Dec 8/Dec 9, 2017)
ABSTRACT
The aim of the article is to identify the resources that decide about the attractiveness of the touristic space
of the forest areas. The article reviews the literature from the scope of attractiveness of the touristic space
and discusses the research methods used in identification and evaluation of the touristic attractiveness. The
empirical part assesses the attractiveness of forest areas on the example of developing tourism in the micro-
region covering the Bialowieza Forest complex, including the Bialowieza National Park. The diagnostic
survey method was used in the assessment of tourist attractiveness. The factors affecting the feeling of the
satisfaction form the holiday stay were adopted as indicators of the touristic attractiveness. It was proven
that in the perception of the area in the category of touristic attractiveness, the nonmaterial factors play an
important role. Their origin is associated with creating the climate by the natural resources and human
capital.In a significant way the attractiveness of the touristic stay is influenced by the attractiveness of the
recreational offer of the place.
Keywords: Tourist potential, tourist value, satisfaction
1. INTRODUCTION
Because of the decreasing potential of the natural resources in the world, the environmentally valuable areas
are significant for maintaining the natural balance of ecosystems. However, the problem is the socio -
economic development of the urban areas within the localities of natural complexes or in their vicinity. The
environmental protection systems significantly reduce conventional methods of farming. Therefore,
tourism is considered to be the sector of economy, which has the potential of influencing the positive socio-
economic balance. Despite the widely recognized advantages of environmentally valuable areas as
resources on the base of which the socio-economic development may take place, still touristic functions of
these areas are small and revenues from tourism represent a marginal part of the revenues of municipalities
and the local population. For the majority of the local people engaged in tourism, it is just an additional
source of income. In order to make tourism a primary source of income, it is necessary to create the touristic
product, based on the resources, which constitute the "marker" and which decide about the supremacy of
the comparative touristic space. The aim of the article is to identify the resources that decide about the
attractiveness of the touristic space of the forest areas.
2. THE CATEGORY OF THE TOURISTIC ATTRACTIVENESS - THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The concept of the touristic space attractiveness is a complex category. According to Page [1995] it can be
interpreted from three perspectives: as a subjective assessment of individuals which is a result of a
subjective perception, as an attractiveness determined through qualification, categorization etc., or as an
attractiveness resulting from adopting a particular assessment technique. Usually, the touristic
attractiveness is defined on the basis of the group of traits [Pearce 1991], features [Kurek 2007] or elements
[Ritche, Sins 1978], resources, products, images, attributes [Lew 1987], which together, or each separately,
should be subject to the tourist's interest and should have the strength with which the existing objective
resources are able to elicit interest and attract tourists [Gunn 1972; Hede & Hall 2006]. Mayo and Jarvis
[1981] classify the concept of touristic attractiveness as the notion of destination attractiveness as "the
perceived ability of the destination to deliver individual benefits". As the concept of traits, factors, elements
or features of the touristic space the authors consider the natural and anthropogenic resources, development
of tourist facilities and the results of environmental activities, the availability of communication price level,
attitudes of the local population towards tourists and tourism. These are all the elements and functions,
which are hidden in the structure of the touristic space that is determined in the natural sciences as a
potential tourist area, whereas in the economic sciences as resources/ economic goods of the space. These
features can be divided into the basic (ambient) and secondary (formed) categories [Laws 1995]. To the
secondary category, the changes introduced especially for tourists, such as hotels, catering, transport,
entertainment, trips, sports, and recreation facilities adjusted to the preference of the tourists. The basic
resource does not exist without the extended range of services that visitors use to enjoy the attractions
[Swarbrooke 2002, Wanhill 2003]. Attractive to tourists may be an area, region, tourist destination [Pearce
1991] np. center or old market quare a particular object [Jaremen at el. 2010]. Elements that create a tourist
attraction are more complex because they may have not only physical nature, but also intangible one [Lew
1987] A similar view is found in the work of MacCannell [2002], where the author concludes that touristic
attractiveness is subjective, and it is the result of individual preferences and requirements regarding
conditions of recreation. It is also assumed that the attractiveness of the resources of the touristic space is
significantly influenced by the touristic preferences, fulfilment of the satisfaction, attitudes of loyalty,
benefits and motivations of tourists, positive opinions on tourist servicing, the opinions of celebrities, the
volume of expenditure and the duration of the stay [Henkel at el. 2006]. You can say that the natural and
anthropogenic elements have the greatest impact on touristic attractiveness, elements are different and have
their ranks, and their ranks influence the tourist value. A similar view is shared by the Australian researchers
[Henkel at el. 2006] who are of the opinion that the resources occurring in the touristic space are
differentiated by rank, with those the most important being connected to the number of days of stay and the
amount of the spent financial means, they define as attributes. It is worth mentioning that the touristic
attractiveness is also determined by the new, created by the touristic space, resource of the psychological
sphere the climate of space. We can say that the touristic attraction is everything, which arouses the interest
of tourists and encourages them to leave the house, constituting the major destination of the undertaken
travel. The result of this is that more and more often in the characteristics that influence the attractiveness
of the touristic space are involved also the social, demographic and economic elements, which include:
character of local communities, the resources of free labor, the level of education of the local community
in regard to the use of tourist traffic as well as the demographic structure, the level of prices and the
possibilities of issuing credit for the touristic investments and of raising funds for touristic purposes. From
the economic point of view, touristic attractiveness is a category defined as a force, with which the place,
object or phenomenon attracts the visitors or as a degree of saturation of the assigned spatial arrangements
with various factors [Gunn 1972; Pearce 1998]. These factors can be classified into four systems of variable
spatial characteristics such as:
* size and quality of natural resources, which are the primary force conditioning the emergence and
development of tourism in the area,
* level of touristic development,
* the communicational accessibility to the region and guaranteeing an adequate mobility of tourism in the
region,
* the complementary services, including: tourist information centers, trail markings, road markings and
saturation with information boards and health and safety, including environmental security [Cheng- Fei Lee
at el. 2010; Jedlińska at el.1994].
It should be noted that in economy one can speak of touristic attractiveness when the abovementioned
features of the touristic attractiveness of the space are determined as a sum of subjective and objective
evaluations of individual elements of the touristic offering, are contained in the limits determined by the
specified level of process and tourists' income [Wodejko 1998]. According to the author, touristic
attractiveness can also be defied form the point of view of the subjects of the touristic offer. At that time,
touristic attractiveness constitutes the outcome of the amount of the concluded market transactions, number
of touristic arrivals and the amount of the region's revenues from the touristic sector. In conclusion, it must
be said that the concept of touristic attractiveness includes elements of qualitative and quantitative nature
that have the ability to attract tourists, is a category of the individual perception of a tourist, results from
individual preferences and requirements relating to the residence conditions, from the tourists' expectations
in regard of a tourist destination, experiences acquired during their stay and the memories preserved after
the journey.
3. METHODS OF RESEARCHING THE TOURISTIC ATTRACTIVENESS
In the research on the issue of the touristic attractiveness, two research trends can be distinguished: supply
and demand. This results from the recognition of the universality and relativity of the category of touristic
attractiveness. Universality occurs when the natural and cultural features as well as equipping of the area
with the touristic infrastructure, having the nature of measurable and immeasurable features, are attractive
to tourists in general. Whereas in relative terms the attractiveness of the area is examined from the point of
view of the specific forms of tourism and recreation. This approach to the touristic attractiveness explains
the emergence of two directions of research used in research of the touristic space attractiveness. The
Universalist approach to the touristic attractiveness enables to conduct the research of the area's resources
with the supply methods [Backman at el. 1991; Crouch 2008; Chang-Fei at el. 2010]. The inclusion of
relativity leads to the use of methods to assess the touristic attractiveness based on the demand research,
which is researching the opinion of tourists in the area of both, the perception of touristic resources and the
achieved satisfaction for the holiday stay [Hu & Ritchie 1993; Kim 1998; Ritchie & Sins 1978, Jaremen at
el. 2010]. More and more often the integrated approaches used, where in assessment of the touristic
attractiveness of the space is used both the supply approach, in the category of researching the touristic
space, and demand assessments, of inhabitants and the arriving tourists [Panfiluk, Szymańska 2015].
4. METHODOLOGY OF EXAMINATION OF THE TOURISTIC ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE
ENVIRONMENTALLY VALUABLE AREAS
For the study of the touristic attractiveness of the environmentally valuable areas, the Białowieża Forest
micro-region was chosen as a representative area. The following factors determined its choice: existence of
the natural complexes of the international importance in the researched area, acceptance of tourism as a
main branch of economy in development programs of municipalities located within the area of the
Białowieża Forest micro -region, obtaining the highest category of suitability of resources for tourism
development in Podlasie Province [Panfiluk 2015]. The research was conducted with the questionnaire
method with the use of the in-depth interview questionnaire. The study was conducted from August 2014
to September 2014. A total of244 tourists vacationing in different parts of the Bialowieza Forest micro-
region were included in the sample research.1
In the research, the author has set a thesis that the resources of the natural ecosystems and animals and birds
inhabiting it are "the markers" identifying the tourism space of the high degree of natural value, whereas
the unique resources influencing the attractiveness of the tourism space are included in the category of
intangible sensations and feelings of the tourist, which are influenced by the diverse features oftangible and
intangible elements of space. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that determine the attractiveness
of the tourism space of the forest areas. To prove the aim, factors influencing the gained satisfaction of the
holiday stay and the factors influencing the feeling of discomfort of the recreation and deterioration of
satisfaction from the holiday stay were used as the indicator of the touristic attractiveness. Then, according
to the number of tourists' indications, these factors were ranked in order to determine their importance in
the perception of touristic attractiveness of the place.
5.THE ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH
From the point of view of the direction of the further tourism development on the researched area a
significant resource that influences the choice of the journey destination is the natural diversity (71%),
cultural diversity (32%), price (18%), originality of the tourist offers (18%) and folklore (12%) as well as
cultural events (9%). The results allow concluding that the marker of attracting tourists to naturally valuable
areas is above all the diversity of nature. The attractiveness of these areas is determined by the uniqueness
(46%) and visual aesthetics of the landscape (30%). 65% of the respondents stated that they felt satisfaction
with the tourist stay and 35% of respondents indicated dissatisfaction with the tourist stay. From among the
group of respondents that declare obtaining satisfaction with the holiday stay, this state was influenced by
the direct contact of the tourist with nature and animals living there (23%) and the contact with the
environment, beauty of the landscape, peace and quiet (19%) (figure 1). It should be noted that intangible
factor created by contact with nature affects the feeling of satisfaction of 40% of the tourists.
It should be noted that the general perception of the area in terms of the touristic attractiveness was
influenced by the intangible factors, connected with being in a good company and making new friends. For
19% of the respondents, the good company was the source of satisfaction with the holiday stay. For 8% the
source of satisfaction was the positive attitude of local people, their openness, honesty and hospitality, and
for 7% of the respondents gained satisfaction form nice random events associated with an unexpected
meeting or a state of pleasant weather during the leisure (figure 1). In total, the intangible factors created
by the human capital were for 32% of respondents the source of satisfaction with the touristic stay.
For 12% of the tourists the source of obtaining satisfaction was tour cultural sites (Picture 2). According to
28% of the respondents, their attractiveness was decided by their uniqueness in the scale of the country and
according to 24% of the respondents it is the saved regional nature of the places. Cultural event had an
impact on feelings of satisfaction of 6% of the respondents. Its attractiveness is determined by the
atmosphere of the place, the nature of the event and the company, as well as the proper organization. It
should be noted that the overall study showed that among all the respondents 31% have participated in
events, 38% of people have noticed the lack of cultural activities during their leisure, while 31% of the
respondents were not interested in this type of offer. These results indicate, on the one hand, the low
proportion of events in the creation of a tourist offer and, on the other hand, little difference between them
that do not meet the expectations of as many as 31% of the tourists. The diverse choice of activities has an
impact on obtaining satisfaction of a touristic stay for 5% of the respondents (figure 1). The general study
of attractiveness of the tourism offer indicates that a diverse choice of activities is an important element of
attractiveness of the researched tourist space. According to 45% of the respondents, it allows spending nice
and varied time (figure 2). They point out that these are organized recreational events: the roasting of a
boar, dances by the fire, horse drawn carriage, trolley or narrow-gauge railway rides.
37% of the respondents considered the region's tourist offer as not diverse enough (figure 2). In their view,
this offer can be supplemented by hot air balloon flights over the Bialowieza Forest, bungee jumping, by
introduction of rides on funny bikes or penny farthings, as well as by organization of various workshops,
handicraft, wood sculpture, painting or drawing in the form of cyclic, on-going competitions taking place
during the week and completed with honors (e.g. in the afternoon on the selected site -so that the majority
were able to watch).They point out the lack of recreational facilities such as places for team and individual
games, playgrounds, including those for adults (such as in China). The feeling of satisfaction of 5% of the
respondents was influenced by high quality and level of the offered services as well as good food (4%)
(figure 1). It should also be noted that in the case of 68% of the respondents, in all the above mentioned
categories determining obtaining satisfaction from the touristic stay, the occurrence of the positive
unexpected events in relation to the expectations prior to departure to Bialowieza Forest micro-region was
stated. Moreover, 9% of the respondents were surprised by the high quality of the catering offer (tasty food),
but the feeling of satisfaction of only 4% of the respondents was influenced by it.
35% of respondents indicated dissatisfaction with the tourist stay. From among this group, 38% of the
respondents included communing with nature in the factors influencing the discomfort of the felt
satisfaction, including the unexpected unpleasant meeting with a wild animal, excessive nuisance of
mosquitoes (figure 3).
From among this group, 44% of the respondents are determined to re-visit, 38% is undecided, and 19%
declares reluctance to re-visit. Moreover, from along this group 28% is not fully satisfied with the touristic
stay, whereas 9% is not satisfied. It is also worth mentioning that the evaluation of the quality of tourist
infrastructure (hotel, catering, recreation) and the quality of the tourist services staff does not differ from
the average ratings of all respondents, which allows to draw the conclusion that this factor (unexpected
contact with wild animals and nuisance of mosquitoes) significantly reduces the attractiveness of the tourist
area. Random event of the type: accident, unexpected event with people, rainy weather, low temperatures
and strong wing caused the feeling of discomfort in 24% of the respondents (picture 4). Most of these
people (82%) point out the small and not very diverse tourist offer (most probably in times of bad weather
they sought alternative forms of recreation). Their low assessment in this category indicates the lack of
alternative forms of spending free time apart from being outside. 50% of the respondents from this group
is not determined to come again, and 6% will not revisit. Poor quality of road infrastructure is also an
important factor of discomfort of 24% of the respondents. The obtained research shows that 65% of these
respondents hesitate about revisiting this region even though they declared their satisfaction with the
touristic stay, and the quality assessment of tourist infrastructure and services do not differ from the average
ratings of all the respondents (figure 3). The discomfort is also affected to a much lesser extent by:
disappointment with the place, style of life of the locals and their attitude (4%), disappointment with the
touristic offer and attractions (3%), disappointment with the aesthetics of the place (1%) and too high prices
(figure 3). The analysis of indicators of felt satisfaction with the tourist stay and assessment of diversity of
tourist offer shows a significant relationship. 35% of the respondents pointed outthe negative factors
affecting the discomfort of the stay and 89% of those respondents estimate the tourist offer of the tourist
reception to be low. This means that the remarks regarding the poorly differentiated recreational
infrastructure significantly influence other areas of perceiving the touristic attractiveness. Minimizing the
impact of this factor may take place through an increase of diversity of recreational infrastructure and
organized recreational offer.
6.CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS
Examination of the analysis of the impact of the obtained satisfaction on the touristic attractiveness of the
forest areas enables to formulate conclusions. The touristic attractiveness of the forest areas are affected by
tangible and intangible resources, such as those resulting from the ways the individual perceives complex
of features and components creating space (they can be described as "a climate or an atmosphere of the
place") arising from the concentration of certain physical resources (e.g. beauty of the landscape) and
typically intangible resources embedded in human capital (interpersonal contacts, including
professionalism of the touristic service as well as the attitude of the local population to tourists). The key
resource influencing the motifs for the touristic trip to forest areas are the natural resources; they determine
the attractiveness of the place, which also was confirmed by results of other researchers [ChangFei at el.
2010, Referowska - Chodak 2010]. An important factor affecting the attractiveness of the tourist forest
areas and the feeling of satisfaction from the touristic stay is the impact of natural resources on human
senses. Natural resources, diverse arrangement of ecosystems, complex of colors and smells influence the
human senses and it results in perceiving this resource in terms of beauty, feeling of peace and quiet, which
is also confirmed by Martin's research [Martin 2008]. However, from the point of view of a tourist the
discomfort factor caused by unexpected contact with wild animals or excessive amount of mosquitoes is
important. Moreover, important factors in perceiving the area in terms of attractiveness are intangible
factors such as social contacts, making new acquaintances and friendships. As the research has shown, for
a small group of tourists the communicative accessibility influences touristic attractiveness, which was
confirmed by the conducted research [Chang-Fei at el. 2010]. The obtained research shows that poor quality
of road infrastructure can reduce the tourism attractiveness. In his research, Prideaux [2000] proved that
there is a possibility that they may seek alternative places for recreation, which has also been confirmed in
this study.It should be noted that there were no distance associations between the place of residence and the
place of rest and the discomfort felt by the poor condition of roads. Equally important factors influencing
the discomfort of the rest are random events, such as an accident, an unpleasant meeting, rain or low
temperatures and windy conditions. Minimization of these factors should take place as a result of extension
of an organized offer of the region and growth of the diverse recreational facilities. Supporting resources
determining the touristic attractiveness of the area lie in an offer associated with the possibility of realization
of the cognitive objectives; next to the above mentioned natural resources these are unique historical and
cultural entities as well as interesting organizes cultural events. Although the studies conducted by Chang-
Fei at el. [2010] were considered to be an enriching experience of visitors, their existence is not absolutely
necessary, but the results of the conducted studies, particularly in the area of cultural objects, put them on
par with the accessibility of communication. This high position results from their uniqueness in the scale
of the country and the preserved diverse regional nature of the entities. Thus, it can be assumed that in the
natural areas, tourists' experience is significantly enriched by the cultural facilities, but only the ones of a
special unique nature. The high quality of tourist services staff and positive attitude of the local population
as well as the high-quality food, including regional cuisine, is hardly a factor that is affecting the touristic
attractiveness. In the case of research conducted by Chang-Fei at el. [2010], the quality of accommodation
and food is an important determinant of touristic attractiveness. The researchers explain this with the fact
of its low quality. In the case of the researched area, both the diversity of entities, their standard and the
quality of service in the facilities is on a high and the highest level of the five stages of assessment.
Moreover, the provisions of law do not allow to use the facilities which are damaged, not meeting both
health and safety standards. It is therefore assumed that in Poland, this resource is treated as a mandatory
standard, associated with handling the tourist movement and it makes little impact on touristic
attractiveness.
The experience of positive emotions associated with rest, relaxation or feeling of extreme emotions, and
thus enhancement of the touristic attractiveness of the areas, is affected by the offer of organized social
events and activities (such as: fire with roasting a wild boar, disco), the offer of both active and passive
recreation (such as: balloon flight, penny farthing rides, workshops), the offer of varied recreational
facilities for individual recreation (such as: playgrounds, sports facilities, tennis courts).It can significantly
mitigate the impact of negative emotions associated with the factors of discomfort caused by independent
factors (weather, lack of company).
7. SUMMARY
Research of the touristic attractiveness of the valuable natural areas is an answer to the tourists' growing
interest in this area and the need to develop standards and guidelines for the managing sector to design a
comprehensive strategy for tourism development. This is necessary from the point of view of preserving
the high quality of the natural resources and, at the same time, the increase in the profitability of the tourism
sector, including through the creation of new jobs. The first reason is attracting diverse touristic segments
with a touristic offer (currently the dominant segment of tourists is practicing active tourism, but research
shows that these areas are visited by a diverse touristic segment, although their share is still low [Panfiluk
2015]. The second factor is the need to extend the touristic stay and an increase of tourists' expenses.
Admittedly, the research is carried out on a representative group of tourists, however, limited to one area;
therefore, for the conclusions to be generalized to all areas of valuable nature, it is necessary to carry out
research on a number of valuable natural areas, including outside the country. Moreover, the factors of
touristic attractiveness can be researched with the help of an indicator of the satisfaction obtained from the
touristic stay (as it was done in this work), but also with any other indicator of the level of tourist's
satisfaction with the stay or through the creation of the tourist ranking of factors affecting touristic
attractiveness, as it was done in regard to the supply research by Chang-Fei at el. These examples only
confirm the breadth of tools that can be applied when assessing the touristic attractiveness of the reception
area from the perspective of the demand. Further research in this direction should lead to a detailed
comparison of the factors of satisfaction with the tourist stay and the loyalty declaration, which would
determine the standards of the quality of elements of the touristic attractiveness and would boost the
enterprise and management sector.